Future UConn guard Makai Ashton-Langford has familiar skill set

Published 6:15 pm, Sunday, January 15, 2017

UConn commit Makai Ashton-Langford draws comparisons to current Husky Jalen Adams, but he’s his own player.

UConn commit Makai Ashton-Langford draws comparisons to current Husky Jalen Adams, but he’s his own player.

Photo: Bob Blanchard — Basketball Hall Of Fame

Future UConn guard Makai Ashton-Langford has familiar skill set

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. >> The similarities between Shabazz Napier and Jalen Adams were impossible to ignore.

Both were point guards from Roxbury, Massachusetts who had an uncanny knack for coming up clutch. Both committed to UConn.

Adams has since made a name for himself, and while the Shabazz comparisons occasionally crop up when he makes a big shot, they’ve largely been quieted.

Now, a future UConn guard is drawing comparisons to Adams.

Makai Ashton-Langford, like Adams, is a 6-foot-2 point guard who can also play off the ball. Also like Adams, he played at Cushing Academy before transferring to Brewster Academy for his final year of prep ball. And he played for the Mass Rivals AAU squad, for a while as a teammate of Adams. Unless Adams decides to turn pro after this season, the two will be teammates once again next season at UConn.

“We have two similar but different play styles,” Ashton-Langford said on Sunday, after leading Brewster to a win over Monteverde Academy in the Hoophall Classic at Springfield College. “I think we have two different things to bring to the table, and I think we can work well together if he ends up staying.”

Jason Smith coached Adams for a year at Brewster and now has Ashton-Langford running his team. He understands the comparisons, but sees the differences, as well.

“I think that they’re similar in that they both have great body control and the ability to finish around the rim,” said Smith. “They’re both great athletes. I would say that, at the same stage, Makai was probably a better defender than Jalen was.”

There’s another area where Ashton-Langford draws comparisons to Adams. While deft at taking the ball to the rim, he’s not known as a great outside shooter. But that’s something he’s worked hard to overcome, with countless hours in the gym at Brewster’s bucolic campus up in New Hampshire.

“Makai actually shoots the ball a lot better from 3 than what his reputation was,” Smith said. “I would like to see him have a little more confidence in his 3-point shot, but he’s done such a great job in facilitating and running this team. Every night we have five, six, seven guys in double figures. It’s very similar to when Jalen played with us. If Jalen wanted to, I could say, ‘Jalen, go get 30.’ He could go get 30, but he understood he had to facilitate and run the offense. Makai has a lot of the same similarities. Makai can get to the rim whenever he wants to, but he’s focused on penetrating and locating shooters.”

Ashton-Langford only attempted six shots on Sunday, hitting four of them and finishing with nine points. He missed the lone 3-pointer he attempted but finished with nine rebounds and 10 assists. Most importantly, Brewster won the game, 70-67 — the 35th straight game Ashton-Langford has won between Brewster and Mass Rivals over the summer.

“He’s a great kid, we do expect him to contribute next year,” said UConn associated head coach Glen Miller. “He’s got good athleticism and length, the type of athleticism and length that we look for in guards when we recruit. He can defend, he can get into the lane. He’s a sufficient shooter, he’s got to improve a little bit there. But he’s a competitor and a UConn-type guard, so we’re very pleased.”

Ashton-Langford grew up a UConn fan, but that didn’t make becoming a Husky a certainty.

“When I was going through Louisville, Providence and UConn, it wasn’t just like, ‘I’m going to UConn,’” he recalled. “UConn came back to me, and I made my decision.”

He said he’s got to work on “everything, to be honest — definitely tightening my handle up.”

And if he joins a crowded backcourt next season with Adams, Alterique Gilbert and Christian Vital, he’s fine with that, as well.

“I just trust Kevin Ollie,” he said. “I’m just believing in the process, going and playing whatever role he wants me to play.”

Interested observers

Ollie, Miller and UConn assistant Dwayne Killings were on-hand Sunday to watch Ashton-Langford, along with some other potential recruits. Among them were Sidney Wilson, a 6-foot-7 teammate of Ashton-Langford’s at Brewster, and Simi Shittu, a 6-10 forward at Vermont Academy. Both are Class of 2018 recruits, though Wilson has entertained the possibility of re-classifying to 2017.

Wilson, an athletic player who may profile as more of a shooting guard in college, said that UConn, Miami, Maryland, Kansas, Indiana and Texas are the main five schools looking at him right now. UConn and Texas, he said, have pushed him to consider re-classifying to 2017.

“They’re saying they feel I can get there right now and play, that I’ll develop quicker at a college program than at high school,” said Wilson, who scored 14 points on Sunday. “But I feel like here with Coach Smith, he’s doing a good job with me right now, I’m getting better. So, I feel it’s the right fit right now.”

Wilson has made an unofficial visit to UConn already and intends to make another in March.

Shittu said Oregon, UConn, UCLA, Alabama, California, Kentucky and Wake Forest are among the schools that have shown interest. All but Wake Forest and Kentucky have offered.

“Coach Ollie is a players’ coach,” he said. “He really cares about his players and the practices are very intense, which gets you ready for the next level.”